Neighborhood watch means exactly that

April 1, 2012

The case in Florida of the 17-year-old being shot and killed by the neighborhood watchman has really struck a chord in me.

I am the mother of three teenage sons, and a few months back, my 17-year-old was approached by a neighborhood watchman with a gun. He had pulled into a driveway of a vacant lot to text on his phone. A truck pulled up behind him, blocked him in and shined a spotlight on him.

My son got out of his truck (mistake) to see what was going on, and the man got out of his truck and approached my son with a gun. There have been several break-ins in the area.

My son came home and told us what happened and after a day or two of debating what to do about the situation, I posted on the neighborhood watch Facebook page, which I was a member of at the time. My post was deleted, and subsequently so was any post after that. Our family did receive a few apologies online and one phone call from some great people but never from the man who had the gun. I never found out who he was, and if he was any kind of person he would have apologized to my family.

It has been insinuated that my son had to be up to no good i.e. had a girl with him (he was alone); was dealing drugs; was out at 1 a.m. (but it was 9 p.m.). I am not saying we have perfect children, but he gives us few problems and we are proud of the young men that he and his 19-year-old and 15-year-old brothers have become. You can say whatever you want to about me, anyone who knows me and cares for me knows the truth, but as far as my children go, this mother bear will fight until death.

I also was approached by a deputy at a ball game who heard what happened and told me I should have called them right away and made a report, which the deputy did at that time. The deputy stated that the watch group is "jumping their calls" and when they arrive at a location there has been someone who beat them to the call. The deputy said "someone is going to get shot."

Anyway, my main point in all this is that a neighborhood watch should be just that, a watch. Do not take things into your own hands - someone can get seriously hurt or killed. If you see suspicious activity, call the sheriff or 911 and let them do their job. If the Florida watchman had done that, the family in Florida would not have to mourn the loss of their son.